Praying

People think I’m praying

When I kiss my own hands

While thinking about you

Lately

I find myself praying a lot

Slip Of Tongue

I was extremely careful

I met her accidentally

(Apparently)

Otherwise why else would I be there

At that exact time

That exact moment

That exact corner

I greeted her so casually

As if we meet every day

Pretending I was in a hurry

I paid attention to what she said

But not too much that she would know

I looked at her in a distracted way

Showing my discomfort with the place

We were standing at

I pointed to the road I was heading towards

Knowing she was headed that side too

We started walking together side by side

Our footsteps matching

Like the steps of two ballroom dancers

While she referred to the lovely weather

I made a careless reference to darkening clouds

She said Coffee

I said Tea

She spoke about Ghalib

I admired Mir

She quoted Pablo

I recited Rumi

When she deliberated on Marx

I defended Hegel

Everything was going fine

Nothing I did or said

Could have revealed anything

Except when she asked me

While taking another sip of her coffee

“Didn’t you say you were in hurry?”

I said…

I said nothing.

Rain Whispers

Rain changes

The way we love

Each other

Doesn’t it?

Little droplets of magic

From above

Come down whispering

“No matter

How far I’m from you

I’m going to get you wet.”

World Summit on Emotions

I am a believer in global warming. All the glaciers of frozen emotions inside me are already melting. The islands of sanity are fast disappearing. Summers turning into carnivorous droughts. Monsoons into swamping floods. Winters into cold indifferent torturer. My feelings are leaving their homes and migrating in search of new lands. Peaceful lands. 

But damn the borders!

How the hell did I reduced myself to an enforced map?

Last I heard, Love, Intimacy and Kindness were travelling together with their families and they were stopped outside the borders for some unconfirmed diplomatic reasons.

God knows who feeds them there?

Hate, Misery and Anger were given safe passage everywhere owing to their unrepentant diplomatic ties with Violence, Discrimination and Greed. I believe they are well-fed and resting as of now.

Come September, there is going to a World Summit on Emotions, which will be attended by all major leaders of the world. Violence, Discrimination, Terrorism, Greed and Hatred are going to discuss how to manage the refugee crises of Love, Intimacy and Kindness.

President Death of United States of Emotions has announced its unequivocal support to Misery for acquiring the Veto power at the United Emotions Forum (UEF). In the recent trade agreement between two countries, President Death and Prime Minister Misery joined hands on strengthening ties and helping each other in the ongoing war against Happiness. Both leaders agreed that Happiness is a global threat and both the countries shall show no compromises in their fight against Happiness. It was also emphasized in order to bring destruction and devastation in each country; more and more focus shall be given to mass production of Sadness. Business Representatives from both side signed several MoUs to further strength the treaty.

“We want to see a world free of threats like Happiness and Love and to bring upon the golden era of Sadness and Hate as our forefathers dreamt of.” President Death said while speaking to the media persons at the event.

Library

While I sit quietly

In the university library

I realize

How much silence

Books demand

From every reader

This reminds me of us

And our little libraries

Of emotions

How much silence has crept in!

Like water grows fat

When it freezes

Silence between us

Has bloated too

Beyond its natural state

Could it be

That one of us

Has turned into a book

And the other is reading?

Could it be

That you are silently reading me

And that’s why we don’t talk anymore?

Love Is Not Counting

If I have thousand ways of loving you

Instead of one

Would you love me more?

Love is not counting

Then why this obsession with numbers?

Numbers are excuse for indifference

Numbers are the favorite recipe of dictators

Let’s bring this dictatorship down

Let’s uncount all the days and nights

Of our unnumbered past

Let’s live days and nights together

In such a manner

No one

Not a mathematician

Not even the guardians of calendars

Can count the numbers

Of days and nights

We were together

Romantic Movement

As a Prelude to everything

Everything that existed between us

I understand now

Ours was The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

In hindsight

I could have Keats you

You should have Shelley me

But what’s the Wordsworth of all this now?

When you can’t Coleridge to me

And I can’t Blake to you

However sad and painful it may be

Nevertheless we owe this to our love

We should finally say Byron to each other

National Identity

They break me into pieces

Small pieces

Smaller enough for them to swallow

They break me into small sensational breaking news

Into gut-wrenching ten seconds sound bites

Into boldly printed fat headlines

Into an object of perverse fascination

Suitable for emphatic analysis

Perfect for scathing debates

They break me

Because they can’t take me whole

My imperfect completeness petrifies them

It scares them out of their wits

Terrifies them to their spine

And when one is scared

I understand

One shouts for one's mother only